No technical reason behind the statements of the customers. AnsaldoBreda will sue for damages.

On Thursday press conference in Naples.

AnsaldoBreda firmly rejects all accusations addressed on the matter of the contract execution with the Belgian client NMBS related to the supply of the three high-speed trains called Fyra.The statements made by the CEO of NMBS and those included in the press release of NS are in contradiction with each other.

The public needs to know that the train is safe and, as such, it has been certified and verified by international authorities in charge. The project was considered “acceptable” also by NS in the letter of the 3rd of June to the State Secretary of Infrastructure and to the Minister of Finance.

The V250 (Fyra) has indeed all the international certifications for the commissioning overcoming severe tests. The authorization of commissioning has been released being the train fully in compliance with art. 26 of the Directive 2008/57/EC according to the assessment and to the certifications obtained from third parties (Lloyds Register, Belgorail and the Dutch and Belgian Railway Security Agencies).

The setback of January – occurred during a heavy snowfall – which has not, however, had any effect on people or things, was caused by the excessive speed of the train (250 km/h), incautious and irresponsible operation, which was performed several times despite the automatic intervention of the on-board systems that have repeatedly activated the emergency braking, and in complete disregard of what required the specification of the customer that properly limits the maximum speed of the train in case of heavy snowfall, as in the day of the event and how it happened – the same day – on the trains of other operators.

The malfunction was only a pretext to stop the supply, especially by the operator in Belgium. The real reasons that led to the request for cancellation of the contract by NMBS and to the stance of NS are not based on technical foundations, but on another kind.

AnsaldoBreda is one of the most important operators in the construction of rolling stock, and has more than twenty five years of experience in the field of high-speed, both in terms of safety and reliability and, therefore, has all the state of the art railway technology skills. In the world, for years, hundreds of AB products are running every day safely